1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to optical networks, and more specifically relates to a method and apparatus for carrier frequency and phase recovery in digital coherent optical communication systems.
2. Related Art
To meet the growing capacity demands in the core optical network, spectrally efficient techniques, such as digital coherent detection, have recently attracted attention. These techniques allow the use of advanced modulation formats, such as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) systems. However, high-order QAM modulation formats, such as QAM formats having an order of four symbols or higher, typically have smaller tolerance for frequency and phase noise because the Euclidian distance decreases. As a result, more robust frequency and phase tracking (i.e., carrier recovery) is typically required. Although frequency and phase tracking can be realized using training-based algorithms, conventional training-based algorithms generally require extra overhead, and thus, reduce the achievable spectral efficiency (SE).
Conversely, blind carrier recovery typically does not require overhead making it more attractive for optical systems. Blind carrier frequency recovery for quadrature phase-shift-keying (QPSK) systems has been widely investigated. Conventional blind carrier frequency recovery in QPSK systems can use an M-th power algorithm to erase the data modulation, after which the frequency offset (between the received signal source and the local oscillator) is determined by the phase rotation speed of the data-erased signal through either fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based methods or time-domain based slope detection methods. FFT-based blind carrier frequency recovery methods have recently been extended from QPSK systems to high-order QAM systems.
A conventional FFT-based carrier frequency recovery method utilizes an Mth-power algorithm to transform the received symbol such that they exhibit a FFT peak at M times the frequency offset. However, for high-order QAMs, only a fraction of data modulation can be erased by the Mth power algorithm. Therefore, an extremely large FFT size is required for reliable and accurate frequency recovery. For example, because the Mth-power algorithm typically only erases the data modulation of a small portion of the symbols for high-order QAM formats, FFT sizes of greater than 8000 are typically required for 64 QAM.
The conventional FFT-based method uses two serially and sequentially implemented FFTs to detect both the frequency magnitude and sign. The level of complexity for such an implementation essentially makes these conventional approaches unrealistic for practical applications. The first FFT estimates the frequency magnitude. The frequency offset of the signal is then “removed” using a guessed sign, and applied to the second FFT. If the second FFT yields a higher frequency offset, then the opposite sign is correct; otherwise, the guessed sign is correct. Though this method is very effective, it not only doubles the computational complexity from one FFT to two FFTs, but it also increases the computational time, as the input of the second FFT depends on the output of the first FFT, and therefore the FFT's cannot be computed in parallel.
Digital phase locked loop (PLL)-based blind carrier recovery algorithms have been widely used in wireless systems to perform simultaneous frequency and phase tracking. However, this type of algorithm cannot typically be used for high-speed optical systems. Unlike wireless systems, in which the change in frequency and phase offsets are relatively similar and slow, the characteristics of frequency and phase offsets in optical systems differ in that the frequency change is relatively slow (in the milliseconds for high-quality laser) but the range can be large (>100 MHz). Additionally, linewidth-related phase noise typically varies quickly when compared to wireless systems (in the nanoseconds) which can result in poor performance of phase lock loop (PLL)-based algorithms due to the intrinsic feedback delay. Furthermore, optical systems typically require parallel processing that further degrades the performance of PLL-based algorithms.